Determinants of Rural Female-Headed Households’ Food Security Status: The Case of Toke Kutaye Woreda West Shoa, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate household food security situation and the determinant factors of rural female headed households of Toke kutaye district, West Shewa Zone, Oromiya Regional State Ethiopia. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to obtain a sample size of 185 female headed households. Cross sectional data were collected through household survey, focus group discussion, and key informants. Household caloric acquisition was employed to measure female headed household food security in the study area. Binary regression logistic model was used to reveal the effect of different variables on female headed household food security. Accordingly, the survey result shows that about 29.73% and 70.27% households were found to be food insecure and food secure respectively. The result of binary logit model indicated that out of sixteen explanatory variables, educational level of female household, number of Livestock ownership, farm land size, access to credit, frequency of extension service, use of chemical fertilizer and access to irrigation were found to be positively and significantly associated with the food security status of the female households in the study area. The study indicated that different coping strategies are used to reduce the effect of food insecurity. Among the major are selling household asset, selling fire wood, selling charcoal, borrowing money from relatives, taking additional work, reduce spending, renting farm land and reducing food frequencies, were found to be more frequently practiced coping strategies. It is recommended that providing education, increase extension contact, facilitating credit service and use of chemical fertilizer helps to improve female headed household food security.